What are the expectations for Marco Sturm, Bruins in 2025-26 | Poke the Bear

What are the expectations for Marco Sturm, Bruins in 2025-26 | Poke the Bear

and welcome into Book the Bear episode 345 presented by Prize Pix. Go use that promo code CLNS to get $50 back when you play just $5. And we’re obviously uh presented by CLS Media as well. Make sure to go subscribe to our stuff on Bruins Ringside. six podcasts a week, Poke the Bear, Pucks with the Hags, Bruins Beat, uh live streams throughout the off season, analysis, breakdowns, all those fun things. Uh, and go subscribe there. Turn on notifications. Make sure to like the video. That would be nice as well. Uh, and if you don’t like looking at us, if you’re like, Evan and Glass is is just too much to handle. I don’t like it. I want to just hear him. I don’t know why you’d want to do that, but I just want to hear him. And Connor’s moving into the camera, and oh my god, it’s too scary. He’s getting too close. He’s getting too close. and you want to listen, make sure to go subscribe wherever you get your podcast, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Podbean, wherever. Uh, and make sure to go subscribe to all of CLS’s other awesome content. I’m Evan Marinowski. That’s Connor Ryan. Connor, what is up? Evan, doing well. How you doing? Doing great. Doing great. I just got back from Buffalo, uh, USA Hockey Select 17 camp. Some interesting prospects for next year, Connor. There were a couple uh couple draft picks there where it’s like, “All right, that kid’s going to be a a high echelon pick. Maybe not a first, but a second or a third.” I’m like, “All right, taking my notes like who’s going to be a who’s who are the Bruins going to take with their second round pick next year?” You know, I had all that uh laid out. Um but I was reading your Marco Sturm story, uh which I thought was phenomenal. And what I got a kick out of was uh one of my colleagues uh for New England Basketball Journal who will remain nameless, Steve Huitt, texted me and said, “Wait, did Connor really just run into Marco Sturm at the Dunks near Warrior?” And I realized like that would honestly be a better story. Like imagine if you ran into Marco Sturm at Dunks and you know he’s ordering his coffee, you’re behind him, you’re like dying for your butter pecan and all of a sudden you’re like, “Hey Marco,” you’re like, “Hey, Marco, you got a second?” And he sat down with him for 30 minute interview. Yeah. He’s just like, “Sure.” And he just sits down and answers all your questions. I kind of like that idea better. Like I’ I’ve sort of morphed it into like, “Yeah, that that’s how that happened. Yeah, we’ll roll with that, right? We’ll roll with that as being the setup. I mean, I’ve said this a couple of times when people ask me about it. I mean, we all know that Dunkin Donuts is where business is conducted in New England, right? So, you know, it’s the crossroads of uh of New England. It’s where everyone comes together to get great coffee, strike up a conversation either willingly or against your will from someone talking to you. It’s what better place to do it at. So, it worked out perfectly. I give credit to Maco. Uh first time like meeting him one-on-one. Um, what better place to do it than a Dunkin Donuts and props to him for drinking a hot coffee when it was like it’s like a swamp last week. I was gonna say Yeah. was not Yeah. So, all the props to him for that. Yeah. And he’s clearly a Dunks guy because you asked about it and he had like legitimate answers and uh definitely was into it. His kids love Dunks. So, be funny if he actually was like he was just reading it up. He like knew like the calorie count on like a wake up rap too. It’s like no. Okay. You don’t have to show that you like Duncan. You’re not going to hurt my We don’t need that. We don’t need that. He’s like, “You know what? I’m I don’t have Yeah, I don’t I don’t have the sponsorship, so don’t worry.” Like, there’s no I don’t have a dog in the fight. That’s right. Yeah. It’s funny that like it ended up being at a Dunks because it it was perfect for you uh to have it there because obviously you’re you’re the Dunks guy. Didn’t he uh didn’t he say like you’re the Dunks guy, right? He He sure did. Yes. So, apparently my reputation carries over, I guess, is I’d probably say is the best way to put it. So, that’s incredible. If it makes you stick out, I’ll take it. I I love the idea that he’s, you know, at uh he’s like looking through Twitter and he sees you like or Ty the Ty tweeted the thing of like the dunks on the the sign on the side of the house. It was like post your address and Marco Sturm’s just like like scrolling through. Well, if he if he was trying to Is that really his house? Yeah. Yeah, if he he tried to search things up though, like the Twitter uh button is so broken now when you try to look up old stuff that he’d probably look me up and he’d be like, “Why is he posting like Nick Richie’s face on the moon?” It’s like, yeah, because like the tweets are all out of order now. It’s like if you search anything on Twitter, it’s like a Tarantino script. It’s like all over the place. It’s like 2021 to last week to 2018. It’s it’s a disaster. Evan, well, I said this to you like I I was trying to search a James Hagens tweet of mine from last year and you know, I type in like Evan Marinowski James Hagens and a Yarasav Hawk highlight video from 2020 came up. I’m like, why is that? Why is that the first result? Why? How did you get to that? So, yeah, the Twitter search bar I Best we can do for you is bring up a music video of Rick James. That’s what you asked for, right? You type James into the timeline. It’s like, no, that’s not what I’m looking for. Here you go. Yes, people are pissed. By the way, this is the time of year where we are going to do a little small talk grabass before we get into the nitty-gritty. Um, this interview obviously went a long time. You guys went very in-depth on a lot of different topics. What was your like big overarching takeaway theme that you came away with being like, “All right, that either he cleared this up or he was adamant about that.” What was sort of the one big thing for you? Yeah, I think probably the big takeaway is that I think from Mako Sturmer’s perspective and again I think going into new year you’re optimistic. You want to see what you have here. But I feel like after free agency which was on Tuesday where I think a lot of people were expecting the Bruins to make some big moves kind of didn’t signed a lot of bottom six guys. We’ve covered all that and I think there was that one evening of you know maybe being a little bit shell shocked of like what is this team doing? are they really just like doubling down on what went wrong last year or you know what are they trying to get out of this group with who they signed and I think Marco Sturm I think maybe cleared things up or maybe at least was transparent about how they’re viewing this year where I think they they’re optimistic that they can write the ship in some respects like the defense the goalending the power play um but from what he mapped out in terms of it’s not going to be fixed overnight the fact that he mentioned like five on five scoring is going to be tough in terms of how they get assured, you know, production from that area of the game. Um, the fact that he’s mentioned like the importance of building a foundation of building for the future, I think it maps out that I think the way they built this team was kind of bridging it, right, of I think you’re looking more at 26 27 as year they’d really take steps forward when you see these younger guys ideally step up. Um, and I think this year it’s all about seeing what you get in terms of like again the defense and the goalending and that stuff, but it’s also about I think reestablishing kind of maybe more of a culture. And that and that’s something that I feel like we we hear and we’re like rolling our eyes, right, of like all right, how much is that really going to mean? But I kind of look at if they are viewing this as a bridge year where ideally you give some guys some more reps um and you’re building for what’s ahead in 2627 and and beyond that and you’re seeing how James Higgins does at BC and you’re ideally bringing up you know Patra or Minton or all those guys. Maybe it is about bringing in veterans like Carali and and Tanner Jano, which again, I don’t like the contract, but you could see maybe why they’re viewing a guy like that. And I think Don Sweeney mentioned on Tuesday after all those signings that he wanted the Bruins to be a tough out and they weren’t that last year. And I think all of us when we hear that we’re like, well, they wanted to be a tough out last year in the playoffs and it didn’t mean anything because they didn’t even make the playoffs. I wonder if like where Marco Sturm’s talking about setting the foundation, building things back up, giving guys more opportunities, and you know, waiting for some of these younger players to step up. I wonder for them hard out isn’t we got to build a team for the playoffs. It’s hard out of like this year is going to be a uphill climb. It’s going to be some growing pains. We’re probably going to, you know, be a work in progress in a lot of different areas. It might be tough, but the guys we bring in, like maybe we’re not getting blown out seven to two every four or five games like it was last year where it’s like we’re might be on the wrong side of the scoreboard most nights as we give guys some more opportunity and we’re playing the long game here, but we’re going to go down swinging in the process. And if younger guys are stepping up or they’re going to be in the room and they see guys like Carali or AC or Jano stay competitive, you know, continue to stay. Yeah, maybe that’s just kind of the culture you want to put in place as you’re hoping for greater returns in 2627. Maybe that’s me more reading the tea leaves. But I think hearing Marco Sturm mention those things as principles moving forward, it at least I think clarifies a little bit of how they’re viewing this year. Hopeful. But if it is going to be a work in progress, which I think we most assume, they at least have a plan in place of what they’re trying to get out of this year if it doesn’t end up being in the playoffs. Yeah. I mean, you look at, we’ve touched on this a thousand times, the blowouts last year, how they would it would be like a 2-1 game and then suddenly it’s a 4-1 game and then it’s a 6-1 game and it just would snowball. And you can blame the roster all you want. You can blame the on ice play all you want. getting blown out like that consistently, especially to teams who aren’t good. Like, isn’t it happened in Seattle, Buffalo, like that’s a lack of mental toughness, that’s a lack of leadership, that’s a lack of just that intangible of like, we’re not going to let this snowball. And it did all the time. Obviously, there’s 82 games in a year. You’re going to have one or two where it gets out of hand. It ain’t your night. Turn the page. Like, that happens. It happens to every team every season. But like the rate at which it happened. And the Jano comment was interesting because he said, quote, “Tanner Jano, he’s just a typical Boston Bruins guy. Reminds me of all of those old players we had here. He knows what it takes and he will also take care of the room. He’s a great teammate and also take care of the guys on the ice and that’s what we needed.” It sounds like, and I I was here in the past, but it sounds like that got lost a little bit and that’s what we want uh wanted to attack to be a really competitive group again. Um, and that hits on what you just said of like that’s how they want to be and and it’s sort of a, you know, I think they hope that the Corrales and the ACS and the Janos are good examples as well for younger guys for harder practices. Stir mentioned practices in there as well. And this isn’t me saying like these are all phenomenal moves. This is great. No, it’s just I think this is what they are looking at. This is what they’re going for. Um, whether or not it’s the right thing. I mean, I think we can all agree they were not going to add they were not going to leave free agency and be like, “Oh my god, that’s a playoff team.” Like, that was never ever going to happen. Um, and I think they look at this as this is their best path forward, not just for this season, as you said, but also for helping them in future years where you toughen the younger kids up and you you you have those examples in the room. And I mean, how many times did we say it, Connor, last season, they’re missing veteran guys, they’re missing voices in that room. And I know we we also scoff at that often times. We’re also like seriously like come on. But that stuff does matter. It it matters in the course of a season. And they that quite a bit this past year. Like they did they missed a Shaten Kirk, a Maroon, a Van Reamike. Like those things do matter. They do. And I think again my issue with the signings was not that they did that. It was that they got so many of them and it’s like okay who’s fitting where? But these STM answers do help alleviate some of that of give of giving clarity to that and how they’re going to play. And he also mentioned somewhere in here, I can’t find it, but um they’re going to be a low-scoring team. It’s going to be low-scoring games. And we we anticipated this. This was the thing uh with uh with with bringing in Marco Sturm. We said it from the jump and he talked about this sort of with the Kings where you know it’s that’s how they started out. The Kings started their sort of rebuildish back to being prominent with being a defensive team. And we’ve talked about this a thousand times. The strength of this roster is on defense. It’s in net. And I think these signings all sort of contribute that. And I think Sturm’s answers uh shine a light on that. Yeah. I I think it does the Bruins good when they are kind of more candid and transparent about what their outlook is. And I think every team of no no one is going to after July 1 be like yeah we’re screwed fellas like don’t get the season tickets like don’t buy the tickets don’t buy tickets and again I think I think they believe that things can go right for them if they get back to playing to this strength right it’s not going to maybe be the most riveting product but if you want to say the defense really stabilizes they they change around like the neutral zone Swayman uh gets you know returns to form all that stuff and the power play, let’s say under Steve spot and the personnel they have there, it kicks up to 18th, right? Not 29th, they’ll be in the mix, right? Like that could happen. Or like they could really struggle to score, injuries could pop up again and they’re a lottery team. I feel like if that scenario plays out where they come up short and they are a lottery team, they’re at least better prepared for that where it’s almost like this will be um another bridge year. They’re still have all their draft picks. you hope which uh that they’re giving guys like let’s say Fraser Minton or Potra or Lysel or whoever it may be giving them minutes this year that if they end this year let’s say and you got a top 10 pick but you’re seeing some progress from the younger players you still have a lot of flexibility with your draft picks and some money coming off the books next year um and all of a sudden you look and see James Hagen’s had a great sophomore year at BC and he’s ready to roll and Will Zell probably isn’t ready but he has a good year at North Dakota and you feel like you have that next wave coming in and you can tackle whatever might be more available for you next year in 26, but this year you saw a lot of growth from younger players who both got the minutes but also I think got acclimated to what the standard has to be here. And if Maricum can preach that with the way they want to play, getting back to their fundamentals, focusing on tough practices, um changing their approach on the ice, it’s not going to be perfect. It’s not going to be overnight, but if you at least have that foundation in place and you can look at it, I think we’ve said this even before Sturm kind of uh dove more into it, Evan, where like if this team doesn’t make the playoffs this year, but Bruins fans can see the plan and it’s slowly coming together and for Bruins fans, it’s not like this past year where, you know, you get to April and everyone’s like, “Thank God that year’s over.” like the best case scenario if they don’t make the playoffs is like I can’t wait for next year because we feel like we got a lot of talent coming in here. So, I I think it does help the Bruins quite a bit of just being more transparent about that because as much as Bruins fans are used to high expectations and pedal to the metal and have that win now mentality, I think you can also sell them on a year or two of that, as long as you make good on your end of giving younger guys some run here, which I think is the big issue because a lot of roster spots are taken up right now. That is what you have to see actually play out. I think it is. It absolutely is. And I want to get into that cuz there’s a great quote that Sturm and he was talking a lot about uh specifically Patra and Mitten. But first, our friends over at Prize Pix. Prize Pix is the best place to turn your sports knowledge into cash with millions of members. Prize Pix has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 2,000 times your cash. Run your game all season long on prize pick. 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I was looking ahead so much to the run your game part that I stumbled over the the what you’re going to get out of this. So, it was just so good that you I I I understand, Evan, you you were shocked for a second there. I do it all the time. I was I was And by the way, the Red Sox aren’t playing the Rockies anymore, so I don’t know. Yeah, they might be in trouble now. Yeah, that’s uh they have good teams coming up. But hey, Romy Gonzalez, Roman Anthony, they’re cooking. Trevor Story’s been cooking. Sadon Raphael has been cooking. I think everyone’s I think if you play the Rockies, everyone is cooking. Everyone’s cooking. Everyone’s cooking. But I will say the the runs, hits, RBI uh one I love. I love that one. I had one hit the other night which was just fantastic. Um I had one it was like Sadon Raphaela more than.5 hits runs in RBI. Roman Anthony more than.5 hits runs in RBI. Trevor Story more than.5 hits run in RBI. And then because you have to do another team Kyle Schwarber more than.5 hits run. So hits run RBI. I I always like that’s a good that’s a good a good one to do. Um so on younger players um this was an interesting one and I’m glad you asked about Potra and Mitten and those kinds of guys because you said what type of opportunity will those guys be afforded and he said I think it’s really important again I love working with those guys. I think I’m a guy where I will give them everything I can. I will teach them. I will push them but they also will dictate where they’re going to go. For me that’s the player and that’s on them. And again, if they play good enough, then I don’t have a problem with playing them. I want them to have success. But if not, maybe they’re not ready yet, and maybe they have to learn the hard way. Hopefully, we do have some spots available. And I think it sounds like some of the guys have a really good opportunity. I really hope they grab it because I want them to grab it. I want that competition in our lineup, especially with those young guys. I’m a big believer and that we want to play a fast-paced game, and you kind of need those young legs, too. So, hopefully some guys will come through. Now, here’s the thing, right? Up until that last line, I was like, “All right, that’s kind of the company line.” Sweeney says same stuff. Yeah. Yeah, that’s coach that’s coach talk. I I get that. But what gives me a little hope for these younger players for Mitten, Padro, Lysel, Mercul, any young guy. Pick any young guy, but especially Potro and Mitten is I’m a big believer in that we want to play a fast-paced game and you kind of need those young legs to do that. That to me is somewhat eye opening in like all right they’re going to play up tempo which is what the you know the league has gone towards clearly they seem to want to do that their free agent signings might not signal that their free agent signings more so are for the leadership end of things but playing fast that does benefit Patra that does benefit Mitten and if it you know maybe they don’t have a spot right out of camp for their sake hopefully they find a way in because they are playing that fast pace game and they fit along with that. Yeah, exactly. Um, and I do think I was glad too that um, Marco is pretty candid about just I think the tweaks offensively and again it’s not set in stone like they’re still looking at how they’re going to maybe tweak the defense like if they go they’ve had zone for gez like since Claude Julian’s been there but I wonder if they change those kinds of things around. Um, they’re reworking the neutral zone. See what that is. I wonder what Nikita Zidorov’s going to think of what they do with the neutral zone. So, uh, so we’ll see what happens there. But offensively, um, you know, I mentioned that, you know, the last couple years they’ve been more of that quality over quantity approach under Jim Montgomery. And it’s a winning formula, and I think every team would love to have that approach of being more selective, but you need the talent in place. Like, you know, you need if you’re like the St. Lewis Blues where they have those kinds of players now and you’ve got legit top six guys across the lineup whether it’s even like say a hollow now you got the Thomas you’ve got Kyus all you know all that type of talent when the Bruins had it in 2223 yeah you had freaking Taylor Hall in the third line like you had the depth and the talent to uh go with that approach and he kind of mentioned uh multiple times about like you also have to know what team you have and what roster you have what your strengths and where your limitations going to be and you can change uh as that goes along which is encouraging because it feels like the Bruins did not have enough skill and they kept on playing that style of approach offensively last year and you just didn’t have the talent to to execute it right you know it’s it’s like having like the 80s lake uh Celtics do like the showtime Lakers style of play like Larry Bird’s not running the fast break like that you know ain’t going to work so I think for them if they change that approach offensively of being more of a shot volume uh uh fast-paced. I’m not sure if it’s going to be like off the rush necessarily, but more of like simplify. We’re done with pucks in. We’re going to be really aggressive on the forche, but you have kind of the heft now all Carl lineup to have that kind of punishing approach and then just pepper the net. And I think if you have guys like Alice who moves well, Minton moves pretty well for for his style of play. Um you know, adding and incorporating more of those younger players, let’s say even like a Lash Melis maybe if he fights for a spot. Um, you know, it’s a style that, uh, isn’t set in stone as to how much production you’re going to get out of it. It’s a lot of, you know, it’s even a team that has like patented it, like let’s say the Carolina Hurricanes can put 40 shots on net and they lose 2-1. There’s times where that happens, right? The Bruins under Bruce Cassidy had a lot of nights like that, right? Where they would easily outshoot the team. But I think if you are a group that has a lot of young players, has some speed added to the lineup and doesn’t have the pure skill just to wait for those grade A opportunities and you’re just flinging pucks on net, wait for rebounds, tips, what have you. If you are talent deficient across, especially up front in your forward core, I think it’s a good uh approach to have and I think bringing in more young guys that have those legs feeds into that as well, which which is I think is encouraging. To your point, it’s one thing to be like, “Yeah, we want to give all the young guys uh all the reps.” We heard Jim Montgomery say that, we heard Bruce Cassidy say that. Different thing in practice, but also if you’re changing your offensive approach where it is maximized by having young legs in the lineup, makes it a lot easier as to why he’d more lean towards those players than maybe an older veteran. And again, we’ll I’ll believe it when I see it. Like that’s how I feel. And that’s not a Marco Sturm thing either. Like that’s that’s any coach, you know, any coach. It’s easy to say it in July. Yes. Nothing to actually do it in October. It’s easy to say it impressers, you know. Oh, we’ll get him in there. That’s right. That’s right. He knew. He’s like, I’m in his I’m in his haven. I can’t I can’t uh I can’t bad. Yes. No, I must be honest. Um but yeah, I mean like I I do think that’s an encouraging thing. Um and then there was another quote that I really thought was interesting. Uh, you asked, and we’ve touched on this a little, but I don’t I haven’t read the quote yet. You said, “Do you feel you have the personnel in place to consistently generate offense this season?” And he said, “I’m not going to lie.” Threw He threw coffee in my face. No, I’m just kidding. He said, “How dare you? How dare you?” He Carl Corzini came out of the the floor with like a whiteboard said, “We’re this is how we’re going to get offense, actually, and this is the personnel that makes sense for it.” Um, Marco said, “I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be hard, right? I mean, going back to what I just said, I wish we would have we would have everything, but there’s always a path to it. We did that. I believe you always have to have a foundation first, and you can’t look ahead. I know you like to, but I think we’re in a really good spot right now with our core guys. I think we have that foundation now. Now, my job is to build that foundation into the way we want to play, right? And we still want to have a good defensive identity. So, again, they’re a defensive team, no question. and him saying it’s going to be hard like and that goes back to what you said earlier about be honest about what you are and this was something that was sort of clouded a bit at that end of season presser with uh Neilie Jacobs and uh and Sweeney where it was like what are you like what is your plan and I feel like we really didn’t know their like where they were headed what they were trying to do until they kept that seventh pick. I mean, the deadline was what it was, but that was more a sell-off from that season. And the deadline was an A+. I think we can all agree on that. But it wasn’t really until the draft that we knew, okay, this is the this is the route they’re going to take. Like, I’ve said this a couple times where it’s like if they dealt James Hagens, let’s just say for Noah for Noah Dobson. If they dealt that seventh pick for like Noah Dobson and and like JG Pou or something, right? Like that I would hate that. That would be really bad. But that would signal like, all right, they’re trying to win now. They’re trying to keep this balloon in the air. They’re in the other direction. They’re okay with this and they’re being honest. At least like, you know, Marco Storm is saying these things and kind of giving fans an idea that it’s not going to be the easiest season or it might not be the easiest season. And maybe setting expectations a little lower. It’s like remember when you like you take a hard test in a class and you’d be like, well, if I get it if I can just get over like a 75 like I’ll be happy. Like I feel like that’s this, but I give them credit for saying that and not setting the bar ridiculously high and getting everybody’s expectations skyhigh. I think they know what they’re going to be. Yeah. It’s almost like last year the expectations were so high that you feel like you like aced that test and you’re like, “Woo, we’re ready to go.” And then you realize you like wrote in blue ink when it was only in black ink. So you just failed the test. Last year they were like, “What the hell?” Yeah. like they I think last year they were like shocked at just how much things went off the rails which like you saw it kind of brewing but I don’t think anyone expected it just to dismantle like that and this year I think yeah there’s more reasonable expectations of again they can map out ways it can go right like you know maybe David Posar just keeps on being a cheat code or you can say geeky can be more of that 2530 goal guy Lind NZ on a high note maybe that carries over that’s all well and good also probably a little bit unrealistic Like you still have a lot of unknowns even on that second line. Like could Zaka, Middlestat, and Arvdson be a solid second line? Maybe, but there’s a lot of uncertainty with that group of just what actual production you’re getting. All three of those guys could be 60 60 point guys. I almost said 60 goal guys. That would be unrealistic. 60 goal to Russ with like what was it like 120 goals or something goals per game. That’s right. Uh but like they they all could be 60 point guys. Also they could be in the year and like one’s got 41 points, one’s been traded and one’s, you know, uh struggling, right? Like there’s a lot of variance there, let alone whatever the bottom six is, right? Of like you’ve got a lot of low ceiling offensive guys, I think, in those spots in the bottom six, barring a younger player like Apatra or Minton or even like Blue Mel the check winger they brought in. like you don’t really know what to expect from him. So there’s a lot of uncertainty. Maybe things uh you know trend in the right direction, but that’s not a lock. But I think from the Bruins, right, if it is a struggle and you are uh really fighting and swimming against the tide this year in terms of offensive production, if you still are able to get a competitive, you know, competitive, not like competitive in the standings, but competitive on the ice contenders. Yeah. Like I think competitive can be, you know, has a couple of different meanings. I think this team it’s maybe not what we’re used to what competitive is of playing in April and May and hopefully June. Like I don’t think that’s what they’re trying to get out of this team if things go ary and I don’t think maybe even things go ary is the right term. Last year was things went ary things went off the rails. this year it’s an expected weakness that plays out right and so if that’s the case and you are able to make the most of the year by giving guys opportunity and you let the prospects marinate you keep your draft picks you maybe sell off another piece or two get more draft capital and then you go into next year and it’s not going to I think be done overnight but let’s say you’re then able to bring in James Hagens after a great year and maybe like one of Marty Nas or someone is free up like I don’t think Jack Eels coming here, but maybe you have the money to bring in a guy like Nature’s or something like that. That doesn’t fix everything, but you’re on the right track, right? And you got a lot of capital and a lot of stuff to spend moving forward. I think that could be a very realistic way of how they approach things. You know, it’s funny like when you said the second line part about Zaka, uh, Middlestat, and scoring 180 goals, scoring tons of goals, uh, NHL.com put out like a projected roster. And I think almost everyone who puts out a projected roster, their top six is almost unchanged. It’s always, you know, obviously Geeky, uh, Lindholm and Posternok. And then you have the three I just mentioned, the second line. Third and fourth line is where things get interesting. I do wonder if we leave camp and it’s a different top six. If you mentioned Blumel, does Steves Steves is on a one-way deal, too. Does Steves find a way in there? Does Matt Potra find a way in the top six? Does Frasier Mitten somehow like And I’m not saying that’s all going to happen. It it can’t it can’t it can’t possibly all happen. But it wouldn’t shock me if someone in that next group bumps their way up. I mean, this is the way their roster is where it’s like, all right, yeah, you know, Zaka, Middlestat, Arvdson. Yeah, on paper they make the most sense, but maybe someone else emerges in camp. Maybe someone else um emerges in those uh preseason games and suddenly the top six looks much different or at least that I I guarantee you it happens at some point during the season, too. Like, I think it’s entirely possible they they might be looking at this roster differently. Yeah, I mean it would change the whole complexion of this team if it’s it’s kind of what we mentioned I think on uh Bruins beat of where you’ve got a lot of really promising prospects in the system now they’re all not going to hit but out of like 10 if two to three of them hit and end up stepping into roles the next couple years it changes the entire outlook of what your team is so I don’t think that you know Tanner Jano is going to go back to being a 20 goal 300 hit guy nor do I think like you know, all these guys are going to be hits, but like if one of let’s say like uh Blue Mel hits. I’m not saying he’s gonna be a 30 goal like holy crap. It’s kind of what we talked about with like when they brought in Sodrom they traded for him and we’re like he’s not going to be Gustaf Forsling but like maybe he can be like a third pairing guy. If Lumo can be like a middle like a third line shot first guy um it could be gives you 15 20 goals and you bring in that guy on a flyer and he ends up being someone you can pencil in moving forward like how much does it alleviate your concerns if next year let’s say barring whatever the prospects or anything plays out if you can go into next season penciling in let’s say Minton as your 3C and Blue as your third line right wing like you take it yes you know like it’s uh doesn’t mean they’re going to carry over whatever success they might have this year, but just having more of that uh parts of your lineup settled in uh moving forward is going to be key. And I think that’s what they need to do. Like you hope they make the playoffs. Everyone hopes that. But if you’re able to look at this lineup that has a lot of uncertainty, a lot of areas of their game where you can’t look at four or five guys and be like, I can pencil that guy in for 15 goals, 40 points. Don’t have a lot of that on this team right now. If you’re able to find out some of those players and where they can plug in for 26,27 and beyond, I think that has to be key. You have to find guys that going to be part of your long-term solution. And now is the time to do it in a year where it feels like they are uh preaching patience. I think and I I feel like that’s the right move to do when you look at what was available this off seasonason, what they were able to try to do, what didn’t happen. I think you have to take that approach. And how many times have we talked about the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Florida Panthers getting these guys in their bottom six or on their third pair on D who they find somehow and they become impact guys. Happens all the time with those two teams and others as well. And that’s what you need to be a contending team. And if Blue Mel or Steves or Mitten or like those guys if those guys can pop and it’s a lot to ask by the way like we’re we’re making it sound easier than it is. Yes. But if that can happen, the outlook on the team is completely different. Things are much much different down there and you’re a different team. It it’s kind of what we said about like the LNO thing. I think that was thing where you’re not I think setting two expectations, but how much does it just change your outlook where you can see him, let’s say he has a stronger year as a sophomore at BC and you know down the road like he could be a third line regular for us, right? And I know people be like, “Well, you shouldn’t get a first round pick out of that. what whatever like if he is a viable NHL player it just makes it so much easier to map out what the next steps are for this team and how you can map out the roster moving forward. So if you are able to get you know create the opportunity for those players whether it’s the free agent pickups that I think you’re taking a flyer on that have maybe higher upside or the prospects in your system. It will be huge for this team moving forward. Absolutely. Absolutely. Uh something else that’s huge make sure to go subscribe to Bruins Ringside on YouTube. Lots of great content throughout the off seasonason with Bruins Beat, Poke the Bear, Pucks with Hags, uh, and obviously, uh, subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify. Leave us a nice review. We enjoy it. It means a lot to us. Rate us five stars. We like it. We do. I’m not going to tell you to rate us three or one. Please rate us five. If I read If I read the the bad comments, I cry. So, please. Yeah, it’s exactly. I I weep. Yes. I can’t stop weeping when I read the bad comments. Um, it’s funny. If you look up Bruins Beat on Apple podcast, one of the top like one of the first reviews you see is like one star and it’s like don’t ever have that troll DJ bean on again. It was from like two years ago. I was I always see it. I’m like why is that still there? It’s so funny. Um but make sure to go do that and make sure to go subscribe to all of uh CLNS’s other great content if you like the Pats, you know, Patriots press pass, like the Celtics, Celtics All Access. Um so go do all that. Connor, what else uh from this Q&A were were you um uh piqued your interest? Uh and just kind of like ending off walking away from the interview. Um did you do you feel any different about the hire? Um I don’t feel any I mean I would say as far as like other takeaways, I think it all just kind of hearkens back to I think that it’s better when you have a coach who is very candid of what the expectations are. Like the expectations of course are to win a Stanley Cup, but I think after so many years of this team being win now, putting this team over the top, I think taking a step back, you know, almost taking a deep breath and be like, “All right, what do we need to do this year to essentially get our [ __ ] in order?” I almost feel like this is like the get your [ __ ] in order kind of season where um I think it was uh Scott Mclofflin of WEI who made the comparison of like Marro Sturm with Mike Vrabel where again Mike Vrabel was a lot more of accomplished coach you like when the Patriots brought him in for what he did with Tennessee. But I think was brought in as a guy that’s like last year was a disaster. We’re going to fix things, get things back uh back right and we’re going to build things back up again. And I feel like, you know, I don’t know if the Bruins are going to have the the turnaround season that the Patriots could have based on just how light their schedule is, but if you are able to look at this team and it feels like the the conditions of your organization, the the outlook of your franchise is a lot better moving forward, I think you can sell Bruins fans on that, right? Where this year it might be it might be uh tough in terms of, you know, you’re not getting the wins and loss. You’re not getting the wins. You might get a couple of losses. You’re gonna get some losses. Yeah, but if they are a competitive group on the ice, they’re going to answer the bell. They’re going to be physical. They’re going to step up when when teams are uh you know toying with them. And you are also able to see some younger players get that opportunity. And if you’re a Bruins fan who I mean I said this before as much as Bruins fans focus in on winning and hate when they’re in a rut and there was a lot of those last year. Um I mean hell we were in March in April and there was nothing good to talk about. You had Bruins fans like retweeting uh Will Zeer’s highlights in the US. Like that’s right. Bruins fans are Bruins fans know their [ __ ] when it comes to hockey, right? And I think they, you know, as long as you’re candid with them as far as what the plan is, you can sell them on taking a step back this year, getting the rot, I think, out of the organization and building for what 2627 could be. And I I think again, I think it all goes back to I think it was just a good interview that’s enlightening in terms of I feel like especially after Tuesday with free agency where everyone’s saying what is this team doing? Like are they just repeating what last year was? I feel like now you have more context with what they’re trying to build and I think all comes back to that competitiveness and hard out and all those types of things where it can it can mean different things. I think they want to be competitive but if it’s not playoff competitive it’s about setting the standard that I think this team wants to have when you have guys like Hagens and Zeers and all those guys stepping up into a roles the next couple years. Uh, I agree. And one thing I kind of took away from this interview reading it, and I I’ve I felt this way about Sturm since he’s gotten hired, listening to him in his opening press conference, uh, his thing with Felgar and Maz, his interview with you, like, um, I I think he gets it. I think he gets it here. And obviously, he played here, and that’s been talked about a lot, and he he always brings it up about how his teams were and how he understands the market. But I do think it is important that a coach understands this market. You hit on it just now. Bruins fans are smart. They can see through BS. And over the last three years, there was a lot of BS. There was a lot of BS. And the fact that Sturm took the time to sit at a Dunks after you randomly ran into him in line, not actually, but I I like that idea better. Yes. Uh, but the fact that he to explain his vision and to articulate that and to go into Felgar and Maz who threw hard questions at him and sit there and take it all and with a smile and you know be honest and uh give legitimate answers like I think fans like that and I think it sets where it’s like it hits it kind of the theme of this whole episode where it’s like yeah it’s going to be hard but at least people know it’s going to be hard and understand that there is a plan in place whereas I just feel the last couple years there was a lot of that BS and Sweeney falls victim into this a lot too where it’s like what are you saying? You’re speaking to me in like corporate speak. I can’t like it’s I have to like take it apart to make to make it even make sense. Cur talks like a human. Like I don’t know. I that’s my my biggest thing. It sounds dumb but um he makes himself you can understand what he’s saying. You get it. Um and obviously as the season goes along there will be critiques. There will be uh wrong decisions. there will be things we are like what is he saying that doesn’t make any sense but so far he’s done pretty well and again it’s been a month so I mean there’s not much to go off of but at least in this sort of opening media tour and uh the message he’s putting out there I think he’s doing the right thing I do I think he’s doing the right thing so far um Connor what can the people look forward to from you over at the globeandboston.com yeah you can read me over at the globeandboston.com we have covered every step of the way this Bruins off season going into the 2520 26 season. Um, you can read all my stuff over on those two websites. And if you also want to follow me on Twitter, X, whatever you call it these days, you can at Connor Ryan_93. Go do all that. That’s Connor Ryan. I’m Evan Marinowski. Poke the Bearlisters. Have a great rest of your week.

In this episode of Poke The Bear, Conor and Evan discuss Conor’s 1-on-1 interview with Marco Sturm on a variety of topics.

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